Seven Months Old

This post is a week late. Sorry. Our little Cormac is growing up so fast. He is so much fun! We just adore this little man. Every day is a new adventure. He is a little sponge soaking up as much as he can. I think he is learning very fast and is such a smart boy. He takes after his dad that way. At seven months Cormac:

~likes to use his head as a battering ram. He bangs his head on everything and then usually laughs afterward. I think he enjoys finding out how things react against his head.

~is finally growing back his hair!

~weighs in at 19 lbs 3 oz and is 28.5 inches tall.

~loves bath time. But is not such a fan of getting dressed and undressed.

~doesn't cuddle as much as he used to.

~is always moving.

~sleeps with his feet up in the air against the side of his crib.

~loves his blocks. He loves knocking down towers that you build for him.

~loves prunes. He is also okay with peas as long as they are mixed in his cereal. He likes sweet potato from a can, not if it's homemade. To be honest, the kid just really doesn't seem to like food that much. Which is so strange to me.

~wants to crawl so so bad. He is close and he tries all the time. He just hasn't figured out how to move all the parts at the same time yet.

~loves to pull hair.

~is teething. Keep a careful watch on your fingers or he'll have them in his mouth and he can bite hard, even without teeth.

~has a death grip. If he wants it he can hold on.

~is fascinated by lights.

~loves Sandy and Charlie.

~loves his daddy and his mommy.

~is not a great napper.

~is still not sleeping through the night.

~loves to hit. Not in a mean way, he just is fascinated by the feel and sound of his hand on any and all surfaces,

~  , k bu b n .yt (this is Cormac's contribution).

~loves to smile and laugh.

And we love to smile and laugh with him. He is so much fun! I can't believe he is growing up on me so fast. But I'm so glad he's here. I can't imagine my life with out him.

Yum

Tell me I have the cutest baby in the whole world! You know you want to.

Waterfall

I just wanted to post a few pictures from our little hike that we took on Mother's Day. We just picked a random trail and started walking.

The view was spectacular. And I don't just mean my two handsome men.
And we were surprised to run right into this:
I love waterfalls. We had no idea this one was on the path that we had chosen. It was a nice little surprise.
And it was a fun and wonderful day. Cormac especially enjoyed flashing the camera with his hottest you-can't-touch-this face. What a nut. What a day.

Cormac's Room

Let me take you on a tour of Cormac's room. We had some fabulous pink carpet and pink curtains that had to go. Sorry this picture is blurry, but this is the best picture that I have. Here is the before:

And the after:
Cormac's closet wall is shared by the bathroom. As you may recall if you followed our bathroom posts from when we moved in (click here), that wall had to be torn out due to dry rot.
We haven't actually finished the closet yet, so you don't get to see pictures, but because of that little fact we had to tear out the carpet and a good chunk of the floor and wall.
This is where Ammon started ripping and tearing. Once he had finished ripping things out, he replaced the floor, and the carpet layers came back to put down something more friendly to little boys.

And now this is where Cormac has his little domain. At some future date I hope to have an actual changing table. We've just been using Cormac's Pack & Play. The giant bean bag is a hit:
I am grateful to my Aunt Harriet for donating that fabulous dresser to our cause. I'm hoping to refinish it one day to match Cormac's crib, but it is just one thing on a list of many:
The quilt on the wall is the one that my mom made for Cormac. Isn't it sweet?
Cormac feels like king of the house. He is the only member of our family that has four walls and door. Ammon and I have yet to finish our room. Well, I guess Sandy and Charlie have four walls and a screen door. But Cormac gets to be in the house, unlike our other children.
I still need to make curtains and paint some trim for Cormac's room. And as I mentioned the closet isn't done yet. But other than that we are finished and enjoying having a place to play, read, sing, and sleep for our little one.

P.S. In regards to the shelves in the office, I know the originals looked nice in the picture, but they weren't. They were very poorly constructed of very cheap materials. They wouldn't have held up 5 books. And it really is an improvement to have them gone despite the picture making them look so good.

My First

For the past few years (or more) I have spent every Mother's day Sunday avoiding the young men who were handing out Mother's day gifts to all the women over the age of 18. At first it was because I was not even old enough to be a mother despite being in Relief Society. Then I started to avoid it because I so desperately wanted to be a mother and was not. Those last few years were hard. Mother's day was just a reminder of what I felt was already missing in my life. And then This happened:

Now Six months later I stare in awe and wonder at the mothers I have known in my life. I never appreciated my mother until I had a baby. Oh, I can say that I thought I appreciated my mom, but I had no clue. No clue at all what she went through for me. The week Cormac was born she was there for me. She sent me to bed and would hold my baby for me so I could get some sleep. She packed up our entire apartment by herself because Ammon had to work and I was too tired to do more than sit and stare in horror at the task before me. She fed us that whole week too. And then she helped me get moved in. She tirelessly scrubbed my nasty kitchen and helped me to get established enough in my dumpy home that I could at least somewhat function. And then she called often to make sure I was holding up and to offer moral support. What a woman. I wouldn't have made it those first few weeks without her.

But that isn't all. I look back over my life and am humbled by the mother that I had. And I want to know how on Earth she kept her house so clean. Cormac can't even crawl yet and I can't keep my house clean. I could go on, but it would get long fast. And really, I just want her to know that I love her and am so thankful for her. Especially these last few months. It is so comforting to call her up on the phone. She doesn't judge. She encourages me. She is the reason that I want to be a better mother, and she believes that I can be a better mother, and that's motivating.

I have also been blessed with an amazing mother-in-law. I'm always humbled by how much this woman can do and by how talented she is. I don't even want to think about holding up a measuring stick of myself to her. One of the things that I love most about this woman is how much her children love her. I love how much she loves her children and how much she adores her grandchildren. It touches me deeply how thrilled she is to see Cormac every time she does. What is even more special to me is the fact that she wants all of us to be happy. She knew that we struggled to have Cormac. After we had spent the weekend at her home with Cormac when he was 6 weeks old she told me that what she loved most was to see me with my son because she could see how much I adore him. I don't know why that means so much to me. But it does. She notices and she cares.

And at this moment I am thankful for the son she raised. Her children are all amazing in so many different ways. But I got the best.
At this moment Ammon is making me a special dinner. He won't let me help. He is spoiling me rotten. He is making me feel special. I can honestly say that I am a very blessed woman. This picture was the first time Ammon held his son. He adores him. He is so proud of him. We both are. And I am so thankful that Ammon and I get the gift of this little boy. This Mother's day I gladly accepted my little gift from the young men who were handing them out. I am a mother now. I am not perfect. I have so much to learn and such a long way to go. I mess up all the time. Poor Cormac. But I have wonderful examples to learn from. And no one could love this little boy more than I do.

Tulips!

I love spring! I wanted to share some of our spring pictures. Granted, it was freezing on the day that we took these. But still. Spring was coming out of the ground, if it wasn't in the air.

I'm still trying to lose the baby fat, so go easy on me. Apparently nursing is not the miracle cure for everyone. For me, it has been the opposite. Only 6 more months to go.

In other news, our little Cormac is finally sitting up on his own. It is very exciting. But he is also going through separation anxiety, which has been less than fun. Ah well. He is growing up so fast.

Click on this one to see it up closer. I love Cormac's face. He makes this face all the time. Ammon thought it looked like he might be giving the camera the bird also (he does that a lot for some reason...strange), but I think he is just squirming. Well, the little one thinks I've left him, so I better run. Happy spring!